Time to Fangirl!

I've been a fan of J.R.R. Tolkien's work for years, ever since my grandfather read The Hobbit (and then the rest of the LotR series) to me when I was something like nine or ten.  Something about the intricate story, engrossing worlds, and rounded characters really spoke to me, and ever since then, I've been hooked.

However, I can't claim to have read all his books, though I hope to find the time and motivation to do so at some point.  But I've heard mixed things about the ones that aren't the ones mentioned above, so we'll see.

Anyway, this past summer, I had a chance to visit Oxford, England.  For those who don't know, Tolkien taught at Oxford, and it was there that he and his BFF, another author you may have heard of named C.S. Lewis, met and discussed their writings.  They were part of a literary group called The Inklings, and they met at a pub--because where else would you hold a literary group's meetings.  Alcohol can be a necessity at times.

The pub was called The Eagle and Child, but affectionately referred to as The Bird and the Baby.  And this is me in front of said pub, attempting not to squeal like a fangirl.  

My husband was happy to indulge my inner fangirl.  After all, I might absorb some of the creativity and awesomeness of the writers who had met there in the past through some kind of osmosis.  So we went in and had some drinks and dinner to soak in as much as possible.

They should seriously just use this movie poster as a recruiting scheme for Oxford.

Have any of you visited a place where a favorite author (or heck, anyone you admire!) worked or lived?

xoxo Sarah

Tap tap tap...is this thing on?

Holy long-time-no-post, Batman!  I'm beginning to see a trend here, and that would be that I'm the worst blogger in the universe.  It's not you; it's definitely me.

Hang on while I give myself a high-five for actually remembering my own blog's address. 

That said, I hope there are still some of you out there interested in my writing progress, or my inane ramblings.  Or both.  Both is okay, too.

So, what have I been doing for the past eight or so months (holy crap, has it really been that long???) since I was on here?  Um.  Stuff.  Yeah.

No, seriously.  I don't mean to be vague, but it's the truth.  I was doing a lot of stuff.  I edit for an awesome press called Omnific and I haven't quite mastered the balance of doing a kick-ass job cleaning up someone else's manuscript and working on my own at the same time.  Up until now, it's been kind like a see-saw...either my writing or my editing.  My theoretical job for 2013 is to figure my shit out as far as that goes, because although I absolutely love my editing job, I'll never be published in my own right at this rate.  I need a happy medium, and I think that might come in the form of better time management.  Or magic.

I've also been traveling.  We (and my "we" I mean both my husband and I, and my friends and I) were lucky enough to get to see some of the Olympics live.  Between that, and some smaller day and weekend trips, we've kept pretty busy.  One of my favorites was a trip we made to Oxford, where J.R.R. Tolkien taught and inadvertently created one of the largest fandoms out there.

The rest was all personal stuff, holidays, and other random crap thrown in there.  So in short, I'm human, and I'm sorry to have abandoned you all, but I'll do my best to make some at least semi-entertaining posts in the near future.

xoxo Sarah